“If only I had more time!” How often have you said that? In a sense, time is a universal leveler. Because the powerful and rich have no more of it than do the lowly and poor. Everyone has 24 hours in a day. Furthermore, neither the rich nor the poor can accumulate time. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. Wisdom dictates then, that we have to make good use of the time we have, we have to learn time management.
The Strategy of time management:
Consider four strategies that have helped many people to invest their time wisely.
- Be organized
Prioritize. Make sure of the most important things.
Think ahead. If an iron tool is dull and one does not sharpen its edge, he will need to exert much effort.
Simplify. Learn to say no to things that are unimportant or that do little more than consume time.
- Avoid time stealers
Procrastination and indecision. There is who one who just watches the wind, and another that looks at the clouds.
Perfectionism. Sometimes, we might set standards so high that we invite disappointment and even failure.
- Be balanced and realistic
Balance work and recreation. Workaholics often deprive themselves and simply have no time or energy left to enjoy the treasures of life.
Do not deprive yourself on sleep. Most adults need about eight hours of sleep a night to gain the full physical, emotional, and cognitive benefits.
Set reachable goals. A smart person does not let his desires take hold of the reins of his life, especially desires that may be unrealistic or impossible to satisfy.
- Guide yourself by good values
Consider your values. This enables you to gauge what is good, important, and worthwhile.
Love should be your foremost value. We cannot be truly happy and emotionally secure without love.
Consider spiritual needs. “Is this all there is?”
An example of wrong time management
If you have a child in elementary school, you’re probably used to getting all manner of strange things pulled out of their back- packs, including graded homework, happy faces of different colors, notices of bake sales and field trips, uneaten lunches and a variety of unique natural treasures, most of which smell bad. Occasionally, in that mess of papers you will receive a note that was written by the teacher that gives implicit instructions to do something. When asked about it, the child answers, I didn’t have time as he sends messages on his IPod.
What are 10 of the most common time problems which affect the proper time management?
- Taking on too much.
- Determining how long a job takes.
- Spending too much time on low priority tasks.
- Not saying “No” and “Yes” when you need to.
- Not setting and sticking to a deadline.
- Working too long without a break.
- Traveling or waiting.
- Time wasters.
- Putting things off.
- Ignoring yourself; you need to rest and refuel.
These can affect the practice of time management.
Although figures may vary, here are some time facts to describe time management
50.2 HOURS
This is the amount of time that the typical employee in Canada spends in work-related activities each week, based on a sample of 25,000 workers.
240 MINUTES
4 hours each day in 2013, is the amount of time, on average, that people in the United Kingdom spend watching TV.
8 MINUTES
The time that father’s in India spend talking with their children each day. Working mothers there spend about 11 minutes talking with their children; and stay-at-home mothers, no more than 30 minutes.
Worthy time management
Before you buy something, convert its monetary value into the time. It would take you to earn that amount of money. “and then see if it’s still worth it,” suggests author and psychologist Charles Spezzano. It will give you an overview of worthy time management.
“You don’t really pay for things with money. You pay for them with time.”—What to Do Between Birth and Death.
